Let’s hear it for the volunteers

Published:06:00Saturday 15 February 2014

The thing that struck me most in your paper’s great coverage of Abbeyfield’s vision for older people’s care and support in north Northumberland last week was how much our volunteers give - not just to us as a charity but also to their communities.

Their story is relatively untold in that for many years a group of volunteers in your area has been working tirelessly with Abbeyfield staff to support older people in Alnwick, Bamburgh and Berwick.

These volunteers are people with demanding day jobs, who have given their spare time generously. Never more so than with the plans they are developing for north Northumberland.

So far this has involved volunteers from three separate Abbeyfield societies in the county working together for nearly three years to develop plans for accommodation and care services that will be amongst the very best in the UK.

To name the individuals would only risk leaving some of them out but as the old saying goes, ‘you know who you are’.

I only hope that the wider community recognises the huge community effort that has gone into developing the Abbeyfield Societies’ plans in your area.

As an Abbeyfield volunteer myself, I regularly go round the country visiting Abbeyfield houses and homes and am genuinely humbled by the contribution my fellow volunteers make. Never more so than in Northumberland and I urge your readers to support their plans and, even better, to get involved with our charity.